Wheat beer cabonation level.

[London]

I'll be bottling my wheat beer this weekend and I'm unsure about the level of carbonation I should go with, can someone please throw some light on this for me.

TIA,
London.

 

[Graz]

Typically quite highly carbonated, the thing on here says 3.3 to 4.5 volumes of CO2. Not done one myself though. Tricky when bottling, if it was in a keg then I'd start low, can always up the pressure a bit if it's not fizzy enough.

 

[The Baron]

as Graz says it is tricky in bottles just make sure you use good strong ones and if using sugar use half as much again as for a normal beer

 

[Drunkula]

I do 3.3 vols and I've never had a bottle pop and I've got tons of krappy Koppaberg bottles that seem like they're made out of green tissue paper. Wheats are ready super quick, too. Six days I thought I'd cheekily try one and it was great and I've been doing it ever since. Try them with and without the yeast swirled in, too. It can go from slightly tart to ice-creamy.

Here comes that link again:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

[Charles Stanley-Grey]

I just bottled 18L of wheat beer Saturday. I was pretty worried about it being flat, so I aimed for about 4.3 volumes which was quite a lot of brewing sugar (200g+) No bottle explosions so far, so I can at least say if you aim for the very high end you wont have exploding bottles in at least the first few days!

From my limited experience I would say it depends a lot if you have reached you target FG, I hear a lot of horror stories around people priming incomplete ferments. So 4.0 + for a complete ferment maybe 3.5+ for a semi incomplete?

 

[Harbey]

Have to say that I always go quite low. Not just with wheat beers, just generally. I've found that carbing low always results in a good level of fizz whilst going higher has resulted in some very overly carbed beers. I'm just fermenting a wheat as it happens (brewed on Sunday). I imagine I'll be aiming at 80g of sugar for the 20L batch.

 

[Charles Stanley-Grey]

That is exactly why I am enjoying brewing so much, three completely different answers. How about London, Harbey and I meet back on this thread in a few weeks and compare final carbonation levels in our brews, so others can gauge there own approach next time.

London, if you want to go for something between me and Harbey it seems like the good middle ground.

 

[HarryFlatters]

I've got a crate of wheat beer left from last autumn that's undercarbonated, and it kinda spoils it. I'd go for slightly over carbed wheat, but that is my personal preference.

 

[Harbey]

I think you're right about it being personal preference and its only through brewing and drinking that I've reached my low carbination conclusions. I also have nowhere to store beer in a cool environment over summer which has led to some over carbing for me.

On a slightly different note, I've been upping my fermentation temp with each wheat beer I do just so I can again sample the difference it makes. Oh, and I like to add a good helping of coriander seed too.

I'll certainly post some pics and results once I've got mine ready to drink.

 

[The Baron]

Do a bottle swap and make it slightly scientific I would be interested in the results

 

[Charles Stanley-Grey]

Okay I sneakily opened one just to see if it sprayed everywhere and it was flat! That much sugar clearly didn't overcarbonate! Think I will leave them alone for the proper amount of time now.

 

[Drunkula]

Think I will leave them alone for the proper amount of time now.

What are you calling the proper amount of time? Seriously, my 3.3 vol wheat beers at 6 days I just bang straight in the cold and they're carbed up the wazoo and ready to glug.

 

[Charles Stanley-Grey]

I was thinking two weeks to condition? Humm maybe something else is wrong then. It was only one bottle in 36 maybe I was unlucky.

 

[chrisb8]

What are you calling the proper amount of time? Seriously, my 3.3 vol wheat beers at 6 days I just bang straight in the cold and they're carbed up the wazoo and ready to glug.

You always have a way of putting things...

 

[Harbey]

Are the bottles you're carbing up in a reasonably warm place? They'll take longer if they're in the cold.

 

[Hanglow]

3.5 vols is good, this is the last one of mine I took pictures of last summer, bottled after 6 days and this it it after 13 days from brewing. Needed a bit more time to get some finer carbonation . But you definitely want a lot of carbonation for a wheat beer if you did it to a typical recipe, you need the carbonic bite as there is so little bitterness imo. Plus it goes well with the yeast aroma you get from it

 

[London]

I'm bottling in the morning and I'm going for 200g of table sugar in 21l which is 3.25 so just under the norm.

 

[Drunkula]

3.25 so just under the norm

I'll just check if we have any medals left for mediocrity Yes! You got in under the deadline! (tease, tease!)

 

[Charles Stanley-Grey]

Hanglow that looks awesome! That’s what I want to achieve! Could you post up your recipe and brew specs?

Grain Bill (lovebrewing)
UK Lager 3kg
UK Wheat 2kg
UK Munich 400g

Hops

15g Hallertau 75min
Saaz 50g 0min

OG 1.061 - FG 1.08

210g Brewing (corn) sugar. 18L

 

[Hanglow]

Yes here it is. I've posted this before on jims and got the original recipe from another forum but I can't remember which one For the recipe you posted, I'd switch the amounts of hops round - I used 50g hallertauer mittelfruh for 60mins and got about 20IBU out of it. Also UK Munich is very odd compared to the german stuff, I've only ever used it once though and not for a long time

OG 1.051
FG 1.010

Wheat malt 60%
Pils malt 35%
carahell 5%

soft water, about 40ppm calcium, 70ppm chloride and 20ppm sodium

don't bother adjusting mash ph. the ferulic acid rest needs a higher ph to work effectively, the higher ph will also help hazyness . mash ph should be about 5.8 for a weisse

step mash
45.5C 30mins (ferulic acid rest - helps clove aroma instead of banana)
64C for 40mins
72.5C for 30mins
76.5C for ten minutes


60 minutes hop addition for about 15 ibu ( i aim for 20 but that's a bit more than most )

ferment at 20c

Yeast was Munich Classic Ale yeast, it's very good for a dry yeast. Just one packet is fine for a standard sized batch, no rehydration needed. Or use your liquid yeast of choice

For Dunkel and Ur-weisse you can follow the same recipe apart from the grain bill:


Ur-Weisse
60% Wheat Malt
40% Munich I

Dunkel Weisse
60% Wheat Malt
32.5% Munich I
7.5% Caramunich III